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Storm spells messy travel ahead of Thanksgiving

USA Today, WBIR 4:16 p.m. EST November 23, 2013

DENVER - NOVEMBER 21: Cars in the parking lot are dusted with snow that fell overnight at the Denver International Airport on November 21, 2007 in Denver, Colorado. Today is one of the busiest travel days of the year, over 38 million people are expected to travel at least 50 miles from home for the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the AAA. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)(Photo: Doug Pensinger Getty Images)

Travelers trying to get a head start on their Thanksgiving trips are facing a dangerous road ahead as snowstorms batter the Southwest and threaten the southern Plains in the next few days.

The snowstorm is expected to intensify Saturday over the Four Corners region that connects Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico before delivering freezing rain and icy roads throughout the southern Plains. Winter storm warnings were in effect in parts of California and Arizona through midday Saturday in the mountains and the Antelope Valley foothills northeast of Los Angeles.

At least four people have been killed since the storm hit Western states on Thursday. One woman was sitting in a parked car Thursday in Yuba County, Calif., when a tree branch snapped and fell on the car. In Oakland, one person was found dead near downed power lines and another crashed his vehicle into a fallen tree while apparently trying to avoid debris, news reports and officials said. In eastern New Mexico, state police say a 4-year-old girl was killed Friday when her family's car slid across U.S. 70 and overturned.

The system is set to slog through the Southeast, bringing flooding rains and thunderstorms to Georgia and states along the Gulf Coast just as Americans are making their final dashes home for Thanksgiving.

AAA estimates 43.4 million Americans will travel 50 or more miles from home between Wednesday and Dec. 1.

"It's sort of like throwing the whole kitchen sink out there," said Mark Ressler, lead meteorologist at The Weather Channel. "With air travel leading up to those last days before Thanksgiving and people out on the roads, just a messy midweek for them."

Hazardous driving conditions are expected throughout the week. The brunt of the snowfall was expected in New Mexico and along higher elevations in the Southwest on Saturday. The National Weather Service predicted up to a foot of snowfall through the weekend all the way down into southern New Mexico.

That snowfall was expected to turn into freezing rain and sleet as the system starts making its way across Texas and Oklahoma on Sunday. Temperatures will drop into the low 20s on Sunday throughout the region, prompting transportation departments in both states to issue warnings to drivers about icy roads.

The only bright spot? "Thanksgiving is going to be quiet across the country," Ressler said.

After the storm clears through the Southeast by Wednesday, Ressler said the weather should completely move off the coast in time for the holiday. He said most Americans will enjoy clear, crisp weather on Thanksgiving Day and as they embark on their holiday shopping sprees the next day.

"We'll get the whole nine yards this week, and then it's quiet for Thanksgiving and Black Friday," he said.